FrogReaver
The most respectful and polite poster ever
You reach an equilibrium state by having the number of new players equalling the number of quitting players. (c.f. Games Workshop business model basically for boys age ~13 to ~16). The final steady state might not be what it is now but could be substantial.
That's a possibility.
Average lifespan of an edition is 9.75 years. If you discount 4e as a bad run (only 6 years, many issues from day 1, though it was popular with many), then the average lifespan is 10.333 years.
(I'm counting AD&D, AD&D 2nd, 3.0, 4E, 5E)
Therefore, I'm putting my money on the 2024 50th anniversary for the next real New Edition.
You don’t think 5e is an above average edition?